A principled agreement on the training of Mozambican military personnel in the GDR was reached in East Germany in November 1979, as a result of an official friendly visit by Armando Guebuza. The fact that military training mostly took place in East Germany meant that the GDR had the benefit of avoiding sending its officers as trainers in Mozambique. Whenever the leadership in Maputo insisted on the deployment of NVA officers in their country, the Ministry of National Defence of the GDR would suggest having them trained in the GDR instead. Qualified training could be carried out "more effectively" in the NVA, as argued by the head of the NVA, Günter Lorenz, during a visit in Maputo in 1985 211
On April 1, 1980 in Maputo, NVA Colonel General Helmut Fleißner, Deputy Defence Minister of the GDR, and Guebuza signed the corresponding agreement on the training of Mozambican military cadres in the GDR. The agreement provided
209 In the treaties of friendship and cooperation between the GDR and Afghanistan (1982) Ethiopia,
(1979), Angola (1979), Cambodia (1980), Cuba (1980), Laos (1982), Mongolia (1977) and Vietnam (1977) such clause did not exist.
210 Neues Deutschland, 28 May 1979.
211 BArch, AZN 31487, Pp. 90-93: MfNV, Meldung Generalmajor Lorenz, 18.10.1985, originally
that the GDR had to train 279 Mozambican military personnel for a period ending in 1989. The subdivisions included 70 training units at Officers' School of the Land Forces, 62 at Officers' School of Air Forces, 62 at Officers' School of Naval Forces and 60 as Political commissars. In addition, 15 officers and 10 dog handlers of the border troops were trained. The duration of the training was set at rotating years for all the sub-forces and branches of service.212
According to Fleißner's report, the NVA had originally planned a two-year apprenticeship, but the FRELIMO leadership had insisted on the making of a three- year training in Mozambique. After persistent negotiations, the Department of Defence in Maputo agreed to send its cadres to the GDR and to bear one-third of the training costs, a monthly allowance and a one-time clothing allowance of 400 Marks for each cadre. In addition, Maputo had to bear the travel expenses of its soldiers. In particular, Maputo's cost share, according to Fleißner's calculations, was $ 7.3 million, or equivalent to $ 13.8 million value date.213 Annex 4 of the Agreement
regulated in detail the cost allocation and the terms of payment. In total, according to the GDR Ministry of Defence, 263 Mozambican officers and non-commissioned officers were trained in the NVA between 1981 and 1990.
Month
and year 12.1981
214 11.1983215 11.1984216 01.1986217 01.1987218 10.1989219 Total
Number 178 192 78 40 8 18 263
Table 2: Training of Mozambican military authorities in the NVA
The data show significant differences over the years. First two years of the training project had the highest number of cadres, number that reached its peak in
212
BArch, DVW 1/54301: Abkommen zwischen der Regierung der DDR und der Regierung der VR Mosambik über die Ausbildung von Militärkadern für die Volksbefreiungsstreitkräfte in der DDR vom 1.4.1980, originally quoted by Storkmann, K., in Geheime Solidarität.
213 BArch, AZN 31487, Pp. 59-69: MfNV, Hoffmann, an Honecker, 7.4.1980, originally quoted by
Storkmann, K., in Geheime Solidarität.
214 BStU, MfS, HA I, 12618, P. 34; MfS, HA II, 29466, p.2, originally quoted by Storkmann, K., in Geheime Solidarität.
215 BStU, MfS, HA I, 13695, P. 14, originally quoted by Storkmann, K., in Geheime Solidarität. 216 BStU, MfS, HA II, 27555, P. 2, originally quoted by Storkmann, K., in Geheime Solidarität. 217 BStU, MfS, HA I, 13350, P. 2, originally quoted by Storkmann, K., in Geheime Solidarität. 218
BStU, MfS, HA I, 5869, P. 183, originally quoted by Storkmann, K., in Geheime Solidarität.
219
November 1983. Then the numbers shows a sharply decreasing trend in the following years.
Of the 178 Mozambicans who began their training in the NVA in 1981/1982, 61 were at the Officers' School of the Air Forces in Kamenz, 50 at the Officers' School in Prora, 15 at the Officers' College of the Border Forces in Plauen and 22 for the language training in Naumburg. In addition, 30 naval officers studied at the Officer’s School in Stralsund.220 It should not be overlooked that the GDR also trained students
of military finance and economics. They should have been employed to build up a functioning administration of the armed forces of Mozambique.221
In 1985, given such decreasing trend regarding the sending of military personnel in the GDR, Günter Lorenz directly referred to a Mozambican politician and pointed out that Mozambique had clearly fallen below the agreed rates for training in the NVA from 1983 on. Mozambique, in response, offered to send over 380 military personnel in the GDR over the following years.
NVA Major General Lorenz explained that the training of officers in the GDR, who in turn could train Mozambican soldiers on a larger scale once having returned to their home country, was particularly important. Basically, the guiding principle was the ‘training of the trainer’ [Ausbildung von der Ausbilder]. This would provide a greater breadth, since in this way it was possible to reach a broader number of military personnel than with a direct training by NVA officers in Mozambique. The training approach was therefore the training of multipliers. Since it was impossible to train all Mozambican soldiers in the GDR, the key to the desired success laid in the training of the instructors.222 However, for this plan to succeed it was also necessary
that once the trained officers returned to Mozambique, they would be employed to train military personnel there. Lorenz expressed his concern to the Mozambican military leadership, as some Mozambicans who had been trained in the NVA until 1984 had not been employed in the armed forces after their return and had not been
220 BStU, MfS, HA II, 29466, P. 2, originally quoted by Storkmann, K., in Geheime Solidarität. 221
BArch, AZN 8487, Bd 1, P. 152: MfNV, Chef Aufklärung an Chef Hauptstab, 14.10.1983
222
appointed officers. The "investment of a four-year training" thus resulted to be "not effective".223
5.2. The stay of Mozambican troopers in the GDR: organisation of the